Proactive Functional Testing

Pro-active Functional Medicine Testing is the cornerstone of the Functional Medicine Approach. Rather than waiting for disease to progress into physical, irreversible changes as conventional medicine does, Functional Medicine tests for the underlying dysfunctions that can still be corrected. The assessments below are categorised into typical states of dysfunction that Functional Medicine is able to investigate. Certain conditions may involve many different levels of testing, in which case your physician will prioritise the most important areas to test, discuss with your the testing strategy and work with you to optimise your treatment plan and outcomes.

Once underway with a treatment plan, certain tests may be repeated periodically to assess progress. Often progress in laboratory tests can be seen before physical changes, as the triggers are removed but the body still has to heal. In such case what we call a Condition Monitoring Program is invaluable, giving you and your physician re-assurance that healing changes are occurring, and encouraging you to persevere with changes and therapies.

Health Insight Assessment

BBH Platinum Insight is not your ordinary health checkups.

A regular health checkup is essential, however most checkups seek only to find out what has already gone wrong. The Better Being Platinum Insight assessment includes both normal lab tests as well as important preventive testing such as your nutritional state, full hormonal function , kidney, liver and pancreatic function, as well as tests that show the underlying metabolic health such as inflamation markers, cellular damage markers, and more. It also includes functional medicine, nutrition and PMR physician consultations.

Moreover, the Platinum Insight test includes very specific anti aging tests to assess your biological age and a deeper level of key antig aging hormone functions, toxic and essential elements, and a more indept investigation into cellular health and damage markers.

Immune Insight assessment

Immune function is the key protection mechanism in the body. Under-functioning immune cells puts us at risk of cancer and repeated or persistent infections can compromise the whole body, causing inflammation and degenerative changes. Over-functioning immune cells may begin to attack the body’s own tissues, leading to immune complexes that damage joints, and organs such as the kidneys. A full assessment of your bodys immune defences and underlying triggers that may cause them to be disrupted is the first step in unwinding complex medical conditions that involve your immune reactions.This test includes IGG4 food allergy testing.

Toxic accumulation and essential elementassessment

Detoxification is a critical life process, yet has almost no place in modern medicine. Why? There are few if any drugs that are listed as improving detoxification processes. Yet, an inability to process certain types of compounds, whether a drug, heavy metal, or normal metabolic by product can cause many health problems, and can even lead to fatalities.

This test assesses the ongoing or recent exposure of specific toxic elements that accmulate in cells. By assessing the red blood cells, we can see both toxic elements such as mercury, cadmim, and arsenic, as well as look for the presence of positive elements such as magnesium, calcium, zinc and iron. This test is useful for assessing parts of your nutritional state, that especially influence cardiac, inflammatory and immune function.

Gastro Intestinal insight Assessment

The digestive tract is the one barrier between yourself and the rest of the world that MUST function well for good health. It is responsible for breaking down the food and absorbing the helpful nutrients, and at the same time preventing bacteria, poisons, unwanted chemicals, and more from entering the body. The bacteria in the digestive tract play a very important role in this function, and the balance between your digestive system, the integrity of the wall of the digestive system, and the beneficial bacteria is essential for health.This test includes a full assessment of the digestion, absorption, immunity and gut metabolic activity, as well as good and bad bacteria, yeast and fungal presence that contributes to digestive disorders.

Energy insight Assessment

Exhaustion and low energy can be from multiple causes, and certainly its not always just from low motivation or depression. The energy cycle in the body is extremely delicate, with multiple steps. Functional Medicine testing can identify where the energy cycle is breaking down, and is able to make specific recommendations on how to improve your body’s physical energy production. With improved physical energy production your body is better able to heal, and your mood and emotions also receive a boost with renewed vitality.

Food Allergy Insight assessment

It is generally accepted that food and environment sensitivity is often the origin of the most common chronic unexplained health issues. Patients often cannot recognize these as the cause of their symptoms, as the condition is hidden with symptoms not appearing until long after you have eaten or been exposed to the contributing food(s) or environmental factor(s). Our allergy testing can help pinpoint your allergic reaction to food and environmental triggers and assist you and the physician to make the dietary or life style changes you need to make you feel your best. Its useful to note that chronic delayed reactions to foods can be related to poor digestion and leaky gut syndrome, both of which respond well to a functional medicine approach, and need to be resolved to fully cure the allergic condition.

Hormone Insight Assessment

Hormones are the regulators of all processes within the body. Our hormonal systems are subject to breakdown and aging like any other system. Autoimmune conditions, toxins and heavy metals, certain foods, medications, allergies, stress and more can disrupt the efficient functioning of the hormonal systems. Symptoms such as poor weight management, mood swings, low libido, fatigue and more are associated with hormone disruption. However, there is a lot that can be done to improve the hormonal functioning including dietary and activity changes and removing toxins. In select cases, replenishing hormones with bio-identical hormones (structurally identical to your own hormones) can be done with amazing results - restoring your body functions to that of a 20 year old. This test includes assessments of hypothalamci, pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, sex and stress hormones.

Longevity insight assessment

This is an innovative test that measures your biological age in comparison to your chronological age. The Telomere Test measures the length of telomeres - sections of DNA at the end of each chromosome that protect chromosomes from degradation. Measuring telomere length is an indicator of cellular aging, and evidence-based research demonstrates that shortened telomeres are responsible for many of the normal processes of aging. Telomere length is affected by many factors including age, genetics, lifestyle, disease, pharmaceuticals and drugs. Chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, obesity and dementia have strong associations with shorter telomeres.

Neuro Insight assessment

A test to assess underlying factors of nerve and neurological impairment. Stresses like inflammation and nutrition, fatty acid balances and more are key factors that affect the integrity of the nervous system. By testing for a number of key factors, Better Being Hospital can identify any issues that indicate damage that is occuring, and also issues that may be preventing good neurological function.

Nutrition insight assessment

A comprehensive nutritional evaluation designed to identify nutritional imbalances and the steps that you can take to overcome chronic disease and promote optimal health and wellness. This test covers metabolic markers for energy production, amino acids, essential fatty acids, toxic and nutrient element levels, and oxidative stress. It’s a unique profile that provides critical information for understanding your nutritional state, and individual disease susceptibility, it evaluates overall nutritional status, and assesses your functional need for vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, & co-factors for energy production. This test is particularly important where poor energy, and signs of deficiency exist, compounding the symptoms of chronic disease.

Better Brain, Better Kids Assessment

Imbalances in cellular nutrients and immune responses impct the brains development and its function. Testing for certain essential fatty acids, amino acids, methylation processes, oxidation and immune activity helps your physician to personalise your nutritional supplementation and diet allowing every child the opportunity to improve their brain function and development.

Children with special health issues, such as Autism, Muscular Dystrophies, learning problems, or ADD/ADHD require more than just a regular checkup, this test is important to help refine the dietary approach for such children for best response to therapies.